Washington says the Pentagon is speeding up its efforts to train Iraqi forces in the fight against the Islamic State. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also mentioned that US troops already in Iraq would be used.

General Lloyd Austin,
head of US forces in the region, made the request to accelerate
the process. Around 50 special operations troops are at the Ain
Al-Asad airbase, which was used by the US military in the Iraq
War from 2003-11. They are working on training programs to try
and counter the threat of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)
militants.

"We agreed with General Austin's recommendations to take some
of the special operations forces that he has in Iraq and give
them some early missions with the Iraqi security forces in Anbar
province just to kind of continue the mission, accelerate the
mission," Hagel said, speaking to reporters at the Army’s
National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, which was
reported by Reuters.

"So yes, we're doing what we can with the resources we have
to give some acceleration to that," he added.

There are currently around 1,600 US military personnel in Iraq advising Iraqi
government forces. Washington expects to train nine Iraqi
security brigades and three Kurdish Peshmerga brigades, according
to AP. Meanwhile, on November 7, President Barack Obama announced
that an extra 1,500 troops would be sent to Iraq to help with the
training process and set up two more centers to prepare local
forces for combat.

"This has to be an Iraqi effort," Hagel said, adding:
"It is their country. They have to do this themselves,"
AP reported.

The Pentagon also hopes the moves to speed up the training
process of Iraqi forces will help to engage other countries in
sending advisers to Iraq to educate local troops.

The US is seeking to learn from its previous mistakes and
approach this mission under an umbrella coalition, believing a
partnership of nations has a much greater chance of undermining
the appeal of the IS.

“This time we want to have a partner in the government of
Iraq that actually takes ownership of the security threats that
face their nation,” he said. “We want to enable them, so
that as this thing evolves … ISIL is rejected by the Iraqi
population,” said Army General Martin E. Dempsey, who
visited Baghdad over the weekend. He also added it could take
several years to defeat the IS, as reported by the US Department
of Defense website.

No other nations have made concrete pledges to help, but Navy
Rear Admiral John Kirby, Hagel’s spokesman, says around 12
countries have already made verbal agreements to provide
assistance.

"I am talking about hundreds of thousands of fighters because
they are able to mobilize young Arab men in the territory they
have taken," Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of the Iraqi
Kurdish President Massoud Barzani said.